I just came across this interview with a Chan Zen Master from Taiwan. I don't completely agree with everything he says...for one thing i just read it 15 minutes ago and I need sometime to think about some of the things he says....butI do like the interview initially and I will post the URL here for anyone who want's to read it.

I'll have do more research on the net to get more information on him also.

Shame on you Shakyamuni for setting the precedent of leaving home.Did you think it was not there-- in your wife's lovely face in your baby's laughter?Did you think you had to go elsewhere (simply) to find it? from - Judyth Collin The Layman's Lament From What Book, 1998, p. 52 Edited by Gary Gach

I can only wish that the word "ego" eventually gets lost from being associated with Buddhism or used in that context.

1Myriad dharmas are only mind. Mind is unobtainable. What is there to seek?2If the Buddha-Nature is seen,there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.3Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.4With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,the six paramitas and myriad meansare complete within that essence.

If you are looking for clear, concise, and direct teachings on Chan meditation there are no better books out there than Master Sheng Yens 2 books on the hua tou method and the mo zhao method:Shattering the Great Doubt: The Chan Practice of Hua TouThe Method of No Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination

"But if you know how to observe yourself, you will discover your real nature, the primordial state, the state of Guruyoga, and then all will become clear because you will have discovered everything"-Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

I think some of Master Sheng Yen's opinions will be difficult for many people to swallow.

In his writings he emphasizes the need to uphold precepts and to conquer sexual desires. This was also directed to laypeople. This isn't news to Chinese readers, but a western audience will probably not care for teachings on celibacy. That's for monks, not laypeople. However, he wrote in quite plain language the need to overcome sexual desire as a prerequisite for attainment.

You can't have your enlightenment while having an active sex life. This isn't unorthodox or innovative. Shakyamuni taught the same thing.

The American Zen image of being a Zen master while leading an "ordinary life with an ordinary mind" (with a girlfriend[s]) has a lot more appeal to ignorant audiences.

Huseng wrote:I think some of Master Sheng Yen's opinions will be difficult for many people to swallow.

In his writings he emphasizes the need to uphold precepts and to conquer sexual desires. This was also directed to laypeople. This isn't news to Chinese readers, but a western audience will probably not care for teachings on celibacy. That's for monks, not laypeople. However, he wrote in quite plain language the need to overcome sexual desire as a prerequisite for attainment.

You can't have your enlightenment while having an active sex life. This isn't unorthodox or innovative. Shakyamuni taught the same thing.

The American Zen image of being a Zen master while leading an "ordinary life with an ordinary mind" (with a girlfriend[s]) has a lot more appeal to ignorant audiences.

It seems like attachment to sex is no joke. May we all be free from this one day. Thanks for reading.

For as long as the slightest brushwood (of the passions)of man towards women is not cut down,so long is his mind in bondage,like the milch calf to its mother-cow. -- 284

Huseng wrote:I think some of Master Sheng Yen's opinions will be difficult for many people to swallow.

In his writings he emphasizes the need to uphold precepts and to conquer sexual desires. This was also directed to laypeople. This isn't news to Chinese readers, but a western audience will probably not care for teachings on celibacy. That's for monks, not laypeople. However, he wrote in quite plain language the need to overcome sexual desire as a prerequisite for attainment.

You can't have your enlightenment while having an active sex life. This isn't unorthodox or innovative. Shakyamuni taught the same thing.

The American Zen image of being a Zen master while leading an "ordinary life with an ordinary mind" (with a girlfriend[s]) has a lot more appeal to ignorant audiences.

Could you post some relevant quotes? I have a couple of his books but they don't really go into the topic. "Orthodox Chinese Buddhism" mainly discusses the third precept and Buddhist views on birth control and abortion.

In "Attaining the Way" he writes:

Sex between married couples is not wrongful lust. Such conduct serves to maintain personal health and family stability, provides the blessings of children, and promotes social harmony. When people who are not married have a long-term relationship that is stable and relatively pure, this is all right too.

Since Sheng-Yen has been a key figure in promoting lay practice (and his dharma heir, John Crook, is a layperson) it would be interesting to know more about his views.

Lazy_eye wrote:Could you post some relevant quotes? I have a couple of his books but they don't really go into the topic. "Orthodox Chinese Buddhism" mainly discusses the third precept and Buddhist views on birth control and abortion.

The five desires (Chn. wuyu 五欲) are extremely frightening. For the practitioner of the Buddhist path sexual desire is the most powerful among the five desires and the most difficult to sever and remove. “Physical” originally indicated form dharmas (Chn. sefa 色法), but here it indicates objects perceived by the eye and in particular male and female forms.

There are some people who criticize Buddhism for seeing sexual relations as so frightening, which they say is contrary to human nature. This is actually the truth. Drinking, eating and sexual relations belong to a part of animal instincts within human nature. This is because people cannot detach themselves from drinking, eating and sexual relations, and therefore are forever sentient beings. If one cannot detach from desires, in particular sexual desire, not only will one be unable to be free from saṃsāra, but one will also be unable to enter true meditative stabilization.

LastLegend wrote:Lay or not the path to liberation is the path of detachment for those who want to seek liberation.

That certainly makes sense -- it would be hard to be liberated fully from samsara while still attached to samsaric desires.

In Theravada, though, the fetter of sexual attachment isn't dropped until the third stage of enlightenment (anagami) and it's clear from various passages in the suttas that certain meditative practices are open to ordinary laypeople. One can strive, at least, for stream entry even if not celibate.

Is Mahayana more restrictive in its view of what can be accomplished?

Last edited by Lazy_eye on Mon May 30, 2011 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Lazy_eye wrote:Is Mahayana more restrictive in its view of what can be accomplished?

As always, it depends on whom you ask and what texts you cite.

1Myriad dharmas are only mind. Mind is unobtainable. What is there to seek?2If the Buddha-Nature is seen,there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.3Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.4With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,the six paramitas and myriad meansare complete within that essence.

1Myriad dharmas are only mind. Mind is unobtainable. What is there to seek?2If the Buddha-Nature is seen,there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.3Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.4With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,the six paramitas and myriad meansare complete within that essence.